Honolulu hideaway fit for a Duke

In 1935 the 'richest girl in the world', Doris Duke, built the ultimate Hawaiian retreat. Her Persian-inspired folly stands unchanged as a breathtaking testimony to the power of money, says Denis Seguin

Palace from the past ... on completion Shangri La was the most expensive home ever built in Hawaii. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

When tobacco magnate James Buchanan Duke died in 1925, he bequeathed half of his $200 million fortune to an endowment. The other half he left to his 12-year-old daughter Doris, an inheritance estimated to be equivalent to $1 billion in today's dollars. But once you've wandered the grounds of Shangri La, you understand the true meaning of buying-power.

Doris Duke with husband James Cromwell in Hawaii
When Doris Duke married James Cromwell in 1935, the not-so-happy couple travelled the world on their honeymoon. There wasn't much sex (according to the salacious biography The Richest Girl In The World) but otherwise it was an all-access tour: the Taj Mahal and the Moti Mosque in Agra, a private chat with the Mahatma in Wardha. The trip's terminus was Hawaii and 22-year-old Doris finally fell in love. "I decided I could never live anywhere else," she told the papers.

I drove east out of Waikiki along the cliff-hugging Diamond Head Road that girdles Oahu's most prominent landmark, then down and into a residential seaside enclave. At the end of a brief cul-de-sac there's a set of iron gates and an intercom. I left my car behind and strolled down the winding drive of the land Doris bought 73 years ago.

With four and a half acres of oceanfront property and a spectacular view of Diamond Head, Duke set in motion plans for the ultimate retreat. Hounded State-side by paparazzi before Fellini popularised the term, Duke had finally found her haven from the flashbulbs.

Back then, before jetliners, Pearl Harbor and even statehood, Hawaii was beyond the wallet of all but the fabulously wealthy. When it was finished at a cost $1.4 million, her's was the most expensive home ever built in Hawaii. She named it Shangri La, for the mythical Himalayan kingdom where no one grows old.

Next Doris went shopping. Advancing east from New York, she sent before her a team of archaeologists and designers who were charged with the singular task of creating the mother of all home décor lists. They had one theme to guide them: Persian.

Shangri La was designed as a showcase for Duke's vast collection of Islamic art and her indefatigable acquisitiveness; she gave William Randolph Hearst a run for his money. Indeed, some of Shangri La's objects were bought from an auction of his estate. Thanks to a codicil in her will, Shangri La was placed in the curatorial arms of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art to be used for the study and understanding of Middle Eastern art.

But Shangri La was also a hideaway, and its modern neighbours have done their best to keep it that way. Tours are by reservation only and strictly limited by local ordinance (see below). At the bottom of the drive, I met the docent, a charming older man named Bruce, along with a group of 12 who had arrived in minivans, and the journey began. Bruce, dressed in a sweat suit, was laid back in the extreme, a mode that suits Shangri La's hedonic roots - like Hugh Hefner on qat but with a hundred times more taste.

The over-all impression is part mosque, part Ali Baba, part Marie Antoinette. In the arcaded courtyard, an oasis of tile and ancient pillars, there is a 16th-century chest inlaid with mother of pearl. In it Doris kept the brushes she used to clean the tiles.

As with JP Morgan and his Manhattan "library", Duke imported entire rooms from original properties, including an 18th-century interior from Syria, and had the pieces transported to Hawaii and installed in a series of extensions and renovations. She also commissioned ceilings and floors, an entire bathroom, from craftsmen in Iran, India, Morocco.

Following Bruce into the heart of the house, opulence and rarity increase exponentially. He stepped up to a stunning mihrab, a prayer niche, mounted on one wall. Here the devout Muslim orients the head in the direction of Mecca. But this is no bog-standard mihrab. It comes from the tomb of Imamzuda Yahya, a 13th-century Iranian religious figure. Its metallic blue tiles shimmer with incantations from the Quran. What would the imam have made of the owner of his mihrab? Not much: Duke's devotion to Islamic art was real if somewhat apostate. The mihrab does not point towards Mecca.

The living room feels more like a home than a museum but it contains the ultimate bachelor pad accessory. The western wall is a single 21ft pane of glass through which one can relish Diamond Head. Bruce padded across the vast Persian carpet and poked into a hidden recess. The entire wall, constructed by Otis Elevator, began to lower into the foundation.

Released to the grounds, Bruce smiled benignly as we performed slow, goggle-eyed pirouettes: the view, the yacht basin, the pool, the playhouse, the fountain, the view…

It hit me then. The power, not the money. When Doris' plan to build a seawall met resistance with the local authorities, President Roosevelt pulled some strings. To have all this would take more than a billion. It would take a war of conquest.

Doris got old, but she left behind her stylish spectre. Shangri La is frozen in time, waiting for her to resume her perch on the chaise lounge by the pool. You stand apart from the group and imagine walking out into this Ian Fleming dream every morning. You don't want to leave Shangri La, not ever.

Further information

Tours are available three times a day at 8.30am, 11am and 1.30pm, Weds to Sat and limited to 12 people at a time. Tickets must be reserved in advance. If you're planning a visit to Hawaii in the coming weeks, book now. Tours begin at the Honolulu Academy of Arts with a viewing of the Arts of the Islamic World exhibition and a short video introducing Shangri La. The group transfers by van for the 15-minute drive to Shangri La. On-street parking in not permitted at the Duke residence. Tours last approximately two and a half hours, with one and a half hours on site at Shangri La.